A Brief Look Back: Novi's early pioneers and where they settled

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John McInnis checks one of the storage tanks at Novi's Tollgate Farms' "sugar bush" area on March, 11. The sugar bush is where the farm has acres of maple trees that are tapped in later winter for their sap. McInnis has been part of the syrup production crew for more than two decades and began a Master Woodland Management Program at Tollgate to give students the experience of managing an active forest landscape. The sap in Tollgate's maple trees flows best when the nighttime temperatures are near freezing - but then warm during the day so that the sap can flow down to the taps. John Heider | hometownlife.com

John McInnis pours sap from a collecting bucket to another for transport back to the sugar shack. When sap comes out of the trees its mostly water and its sugar content is less than 10 percent and has to have most of its water evaporated off to make syrup. John Heider | hometownlife.com

Tollgate uses modern plastic spiles to tap into the maple trees to get at its sap. Older spiles are made of metal and both types are placed into the trees by drilling small holes into them. John Heider | hometownlife.com

Tollgate Farms' sugar shack volunteer Wayne Watson pours a bucket of sap into its evaporator on March 11. McInnis, out of frame on the left, holds a stainless steel filter up to the stream of sap to filter out any bits of vegetation that might get in the sap. John Heider | hometownlife.com

Larry and Margaret Schmidt boil down some maple sap on March 12 at their Novi home off Wixom Road. The couple have lived at the address for years and have an extensive forest in their backyard that features lots of sugar maple trees. They try to make maple syrup most years. John Heider | hometownlife.com

Margaret Schmidt, also known as the Farm Lady for her years of bringing barn and livestock animals around to local schools, heads out to the Schmidt "sugar bush" to gather some more sap. The Schmidts tap about a dozen trees and usually need about 40 gallons of sap to boil down to a single gallon of syrup. John Heider | hometownlife.com

Novi celebrates its 50th anniversary as a city this year, but the area was settled long before cityhood was proposed, and even long before the name Novi came to be.

As early as 1825, settlers came to what would soon be referred to as "West Farmington" in search of better farmland, land of their own or simply a fresh start.

Where they settled depended on availability, the landscape and where their companions were. Here's a look at five of Novi's earliest settlers and their original homesteads, many of which still exist.

Joseph Yerkes

Cousins William Yerkes and Thomas Pinkerton journeyed from New York in 1825, bringing with them a large family. William's father, Joseph, built a large home at today's Eight Mile and Novi roads — currently Northville — around 1870 that stood until 1989 when it was destroyed by arson.

Richmond Simmons

Richmond Simmons built this home on Ten Mile Road in the late 1850s to 1860s. The house stood on farmland that produced a good deal of fruit.(Photo: Pamela A. Zinkosky)

Richmond Simmons, the son of 1824 area settler Joshua Simmons, built a large home and developed a farm that covered some 100 acres in the late 1850s to 1860s. Much of the farm was dedicated to fruit production. The house stands today on Ten Mile Road east of Beck, serving as a private residence.

Sally Thornton

The former Charles Rodgers mansion, built in 1929 on Nine Mile Road on part of early settler Sally Thornton's land, now serves as a home for Shiro restaurant.(Photo: Pamela A. Zinkosky)

In 1827, Sally Thornton came to what is today Novi from New York. A 48-year-old widow with three sons and two daughters, she traveled with the Yerkes party and purchased land on both sides of what is today Novi Road and Nine Mile. Her teenage boys worked to clear the wooded land, first building a small log structure and later a frame house in about 1840.

The land stayed in the family well past Thornton's death in 1850. A descendant of Thornton's married Charles Rodgers, who in 1929 built the grand mansion that stands at Nine Mile and Novi roads today, now serving as a restaurant. The 1840 Thornton homestead was moved a short distance to make way for the mansion, and then moved to 11 Mile and Taft roads in avoidance of the wrecking ball, as it stood in the way of Arkin Industries' expansion.

Samuel Bassett

This barn, located on the Tollgate Farm grounds, was built in the 1950s when Adoph and Ginger Meyer acquired the former Bassett farm, continuing to work the land.(Photo: Pamela A. Zinkosky)

In the 1830s, Samuel Bassett of Connecticut purchased a couple hundred acres of wooded land at today's Meadowbrook and 12 Mile roads. Samuel's son John Bassett built a small cabin there in 1836, and then a farmhouse around 1840, raising a large family there, while Samuel settled in Bloomfield Hills.

The land served as a working farm for more than 150 years, passing out of the Bassett family to the Meyer family in the 1950s and then finally being donated to Michigan State University in 1987 to serve as an educational facility. The land, known as Tollgate Farm, still supports animals and plants, and includes wooded areas.

John Bassett, son of early Novi landowner Samuel Bassett, built this farmhouse around 1840 on Meadowbrook and 12 Mile roads. It's currently used as offices for Michigan State University's Tollgate Farm.(Photo: Pamela A. Zinkosky)

Samuel White

In 1827, Samuel White, a New York native and War of 1812 veteran, laid claim to 160 acres of farm land along today's Nine Mile Road, west of Taft. White and his wife Amanda had seven children.

White served as the second supervisor of Novi and was also a delegate to the 1835 Michigan Constitutional Convention. His 1840 farmhouse and barn are still in existence today as private residences.